


Stories of the Second Self: House On the Corner

by John_Steiner



Series: Alter Idem [131]
Category: Urban Fantasy - Fandom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-13
Updated: 2020-02-13
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:07:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22687462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/John_Steiner/pseuds/John_Steiner
Summary: A kid in Cincinnati recounts their experience with a haunted house while working returned paper delivery routes after werewolves had been pushed out of Silverton.
Series: Alter Idem [131]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1618813





	Stories of the Second Self: House On the Corner

There they were again. Those eyes in the window of the big abandoned house, when I rode my bike past it on my way home from school. Why no one else noticed, I can't say. Though maybe because I got home after sundown.

My mom told me not to worry, because it's probably howlers pulling some kind of prank. The eyes reflected the way I'd expect for a werewolf, or a big dog, but no, this is different somehow. See, I didn't tell my mom that after the first few times, I actually dared go inside to find out who was doing it.

Scariest shit I ever been through. I was in grade school when the world lost its shit and all this Alter Idem stuff came out. Some of that was going on before we had a name for it, and so I don't think of it the way they do. They think a paper route is weird, but that's what I do.

So, anyway, about this house. I went in, saw how rotted the boards were, and called out, "Hey!"

Nothin'.

"That window-peeping shit ain't cool," I said to the dank darkness, "So don't do it. This is Silverton, you know, an' we don't play that shit."

Then I saw it, or rather them.

Several pairs of yellow eyes gleaming at me from the depths of a mildew smelling kitchen that, I swear, will never see daylight again. Seriously, I tried with my LED key chain light. The eyes kept showing, but there wasn't anything around them other than this weird wispy smoke, like a bunch of cigarettes were left to smolder.

Then I realized how that smoke looked. Ethereal outlines of manes and ears. Mom was right, that they were howlers, but-- ya'know, the dead kind. I'd heard stories on the street that there's a dude in town who collects souls just like he collects houses and store lots. I wasn't sure about that stuff until seeing this.

It's funny, I don't remember breaking into a run, and can't place myself flinging the front door of the abandoned house wide open. Yet, when I finally looked back, I was already a couple houses away and on the other side of the street. Didn't even think to grab my bike, just ran.

I asked a friend of mine to get my bike off the abandoned house lawn for me, and he didn't question it. Just that before I had to do my route the bike was back on my front door step.

See, I think Jamie also saw those eyes in the house, and maybe he did what I did and go inside to figure out who was messin' with him. We don't talk about it, and we don't go by there together. When I'm peddling my route I cross the street in front of that house now.

'Cause I don't know what happened to those werewolves, but they look sad. Someone did that to them. They probably were killed when the whole town was fucked up, and then someone else stuck their souls in that house. Or maybe they're just stuck there, because it's the only safe space for howlers in Silverton.


End file.
